adopted
by domina tempore
Summary: The dog was kind of an accident. Coulson was supposed to be the one who picked up strays, not Daisy. But apparently, that memo hadn't made it out into the canine world.


**Agents of SHIELD:** _adoption_

 _Disclaimer: AOS and all of its characters, locations, etc. belong to their respective owners; I'm just borrowing. No copyright infringement intended!_

 _Author's Note: Apparently I'm binge-posting all the old stuff lying around my computer? This is set in the space between seasons 2 and 3, and I believe came about because if Daisy had a dog, then Cal could be her vet? (Not that I actually got that far.)_

 _As usual, you may direct at least 50% of any credit/blame to IuvenesCor, because it's a pretty good bet that she had something to do with it._

The dog was kind of an accident.

Daisy wasn't planning on adopting the first random stray that she came across. Or any random stray for that matter. (That was really more Phil's thing.) But they'd been dealing with a small thing in Rhode Island and the dog had just kind of followed her back to the Quinnjet. And once everyone else had seen it, there really wasn't any other option but to take it back with them.

"Oh, look at it! It's so well behaved."

"It looks malnourished, we should at least feed it."

"You can't leave it here, Daisy! It's adopted you."

"It's your responsibility now, kid."

Daisy looked at the scruffy tan mutt. The dog stared back.

She sighed. "Well, I guess you're with me now, buddy.:"

The dog followed her everywhere. At first, Daisy wasn't really sure what to do with it. She wasn't exactly a pet person, at least not in the traditional sense. They kept Hunter around, though, and she had always kind of thought that counted, or was close enough. But after about a week of dodging questions and rolling her eyes, she actually began to grow attached to her little shadow. He was smart, he was cute, and he was obedient. As long as she didn't tell him to go away.

"Do you have a name for him yet?" Fitz asked nearly every day, because it was a dog and he was Fitz.

"Fitz, I'm not naming him, because he really can't stay that long."

She was going to have to find another place for him. As cute as he was, she didn't have the first clue about how to take care of a dog. Sure, you fed it and gave it water and took it out to pee (though Simmons had cooked up some weird bio-something to simulate the outside when they couldn't leave the base). But what did one do with a dog? Besides, she was off base all the time, and the thing would need constant attention even when she wasn't there. No one at SHIELD had the time or energy for that added responsibility. She was going to have to find it a new home, or take it to a no-kill shelter, or something.

"But you can't just abandon him! Look at that face! Is that a face that you want to see staring at you in your dreams every night for the rest of eternity?"

"Fitz, we can't keep him."

They got the dog's license on a Tuesday.

"What are you going to call him?" Fitz asked again, as he and Daisy drove back to the base. The license was just in case he ever got out and someone else picked him up; Simmons had already injected him with a microchip to track him in case of an emergency.

Daisy hit the steering wheel. It wasn't actually her dog, that's just what everyone said because it followed her around. "I'm not going to name it, Fitz! Because it's not my dog!"

"So his name is Dude," Daisy announced, walking into the rec room where Fitz, Mack, Bobbi and Hunter were all in various states of sitting and lounging, cold beers in hand.

Fitz looked up with a smile, but the rest of them had not been following the dog saga nearly so closely as he. They exchanged a quick, "I hope we don't need to have our friends committed. Again." kind of look that they'd sort of perfected. That confusion only deepened with Fitz's exclamation of, "Oh Daisy, that's fantastic! When did you decide?"

"About thirty seconds before I came in here, when I turned my back on him for like six seconds and he finished my lunch."

"Well, what have you been feeding him with?"

"I don't know, Simmons cooked up some special kibble formula or something."

Hunter raised a tentative hand, cleared his throat to interrupt. "And...we are talking about…?"

"Oh my gosh, they're talking about the dog, idiot," Bobbi rolled her eyes and kicked him lightly. Hunter huffed and made an awkward sweep in her general direction.

"Would you guys get a room or something?" Mack scoffed, earning him twin glares.

"Okay, but can we get back to the important part of this conversation now, please?" Daisy set one hand on her hip, and gestured exasperatedly at the dog. "What the hell am I supposed to do with Dude?"

"I don't quite understand how you got the name Dude out of him finishing your lunch…" Fitz said, tilting his head thoughtfully and stroking his chin. "I mean, it seems to fit him of course, as long as he...ah...as long as he comes when you call him? But it doesn't seem that -"

"Fitz!" Daisy snapped her fingers impatiently under his nose. The dog perked up in the background. "Focus!"

"Right, sorry. Dog. Ah...what was your question, again?"

"What do I do with it? It just keeps...following me. And it's not hungry, and it doesn't have to pee, and it's not tired. At least, I don't think so. I tried to play with it, kind of. But it's hard when there's nothing on base that works as a dog toy. Everything is either explosive or toxic."

It was at that point in the conversation that Fitz got entirely too excited for anyone's comfort. Even Daisy backed away a few steps. The dog watched with interest.

"I've got just the thing!" he declared, leaping up and grabbing Daisy's hand. Dude barked once, but his tail was wagging and he seemed to understand that whatever was going on was good for him, at least. "Come with me! Sorry, everybody, but we've got a job to do."

"Nice talkin' to you, Turbo," Mack called as the troupe of humans plus dog ran from the room.

"Yeah, and maybe take the poor thing off base for a walk," Bobbi added to their retreating backs. "Find a park or something!"

-

 _Note: Currently done? But there is a tiny possibility that one day I'll expand this little corner of the universe a bit, mostly because I'm quite partial to the idea of dogs._


End file.
